With Low Prices, Hyundai Builds Market Share

After years of struggling to prove to consumers than it was more than a second-tier brand, Hyundai Motor America and its affiliate, Kia Motor America, accounted for 8 percent of the new-vehicle market in the United States in August, more than Chrysler’s 7.4 percent. The company sold more than 60,000 vehicles last month as buyers rushed to take advantage of the government’s cash-for-clunkers program before its end.

The carmaker’s sales topped August 2008 by 47 percent — total industry sales were up only 1 percent.

Globally, the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, which owns the Hyundai Motor Company and about 39 percent of Kia Motors, passed Honda last year and the Ford Motor Company this year. It became the fourth-largest automaker, behind Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen (it is seventh in the United States). It was in 11th place worldwide less than a decade ago.

Hyundai and Kia both expect to sell more vehicles in the United States this year than they did in 2008, a claim that only one other automaker, Subaru, can make. Sales by all of Hyundai’s bigger competitors have fallen by more than 20 percent so far this year.


Hyundai’s Exhibit A is the Genesis, a luxury sedan that was named North American car of the year at the Detroit auto show in January. Part of the appeal of the Genesis, in addition to a price tag that is thousands less than that of its chief rivals, may be that hardly anyone associates Hyundai with the word “luxury.”

Its lowest-priced model, the Accent, sells for just under $10,000 for the base package. The Genesis, its most expensive model, starts at $32,250 — by comparison, the Lexus ES 350 costs $34,470, and the Cadillac CTS costs $36,560.